Daf (Maqams of Daf)

Daf: Seyed Ataollah Salamiyeh
Accompanying notes by: Hamid Reza Ardalan

 Seyyed Attaolah Sallamieh is one of the prominent daf players of the Kurdistan khaneqahs (a kind of holy prayer house for mystic Sufis). He was born in 1965 and has been playing among dervishes since childhood for the last twenty-six years; he plays all the zekrs (any of a series of special statements in worship of Allah) correctly and firmly and is a master of improvisation in extending the zekrs.
Sallamieh currently presents two different zekr maqams, one accordant with previous tradition, and the other, his improvised inferences of those zekrs which allow the listener to perceive the melody of daf; in the former, the world of nothingness is concealed, whereas in the latter, the world of being is revealed. Seyyed Attaolah Sallamieh is the living example of one who is able to present all forms of Kurdish music by daf. ...

Published [10/12/1999]